Himalayan mountain birds, new study

This video from India says about itself:

Barbets and other birds of the lower Himalayas

4 October 2011

Birds of Dehra Dun and Chakrata:

Great Barbet, Blue-Whistling Thrush, Black-Lored Tit, Grey-Hooded Warbler, Green-Backed Tit and Ruddy Shelducks.

According to Wikipedia:

“The Ruddy Shelduck, Tadorna ferruginea, is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. It is in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae. In India it is known as the Brahminy Duck.

There are very small resident populations of this species in north west Africa and Ethiopia, but the main breeding area of this species is from south east Europe across central Asia to southeast China. These birds are mostly migratory, wintering in southern Asia.

Although becoming quite rare in southeast Europe and southern Spain, the Ruddy Shelduck is still common across much of its Asian range. It may be this population which gives rise to vagrants as far west as Iceland, Great Britain and Ireland. However, since the European population is declining, it is likely that most occurrences in western Europe in recent decades are escapes or feral birds. Although this bird is observed in the wild from time to time in eastern North America, no evidence of a genuine vagrant has been found.”

From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the USA:

How Do Birds Cope With Thin Air at High Altitudes?

The higher you go, the less oxygen you get with each breath and the tougher it is to be active. Just imagine how birds feel at high elevation as they go about their high-energy, high-exertion lifestyles. To understand how birds cope, researcher Sahas Barve turned to the steep Himalayan mountains of his native India. Intriguingly, he found that migrant songbirds had a different approach than the birds that live high year round. Find out how they do it.

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